New round of flood stations boost region’s flood resilience

The 16 new Flood Warning Alert Stations join the region’s network of flood stations installed across the Western Downs, such as this alert station installed in 2014 in Jandowae.

9 December 2015

The second round of 16 new Flood Warning Alert Stations has gone ‘live’ after being connected to the Bureau of Meteorology’s telemetry system, boosting Council’s aim to improve the region’s flood resilience and preparedness.

With a total of 34 Flood Warning Alert Stations installed, the region’s early flood warning system now provides better coverage across the catchment improving the preparedness of our communities to cope with major rainfall events;

The new flood stations have been installed near Chinchilla, Condamine, Dalby, Miles and Warra, as per the locations identified and prioritised in the Floodplain Risk Management Study;

Council and the State Government have invested nearly $1 million into the region’s network of flood stations.

Western Downs Regional Council Mayor Ray Brown said the local knowledge of Western Downs farmers greatly assisted with the location scouting and installation of the flood stations.

“With the help of local knowledge and historical data provided by our farmers, Council and the Bureau of Meteorology were able to scout locations for the flood stations that would boost mitigation efforts and provide our communities with enhanced early warning of adverse weather events,” he said.

“The region’s network of flood stations will help the Bureau of Meteorology and Council provide timely weather warnings to residents of heavy rainfall and flood events so as to help our communities be better prepared to respond to such weather events.”

The first round of 18 Flood Warning Alert Stations was funded through the Local Government Grants and Subsidies Program (LGGSP), Cyclone and Flood Warning Subsidy and Flood Response Subsidy.
The second round of 16 Flood Warning Alert Stations was funded through the 2014/15 Natural Disaster Resilience Program.